Article

Name: Poetics and historicism of the genres of labor rituals of the Altaians

Authors: Nadezhda R. Oinotkinova

Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

In the section Study of folklore

Abstract:

The study is devoted to the characterization of the genres of labor rituals of the Altaians from the point of view of their historicism: hunting wishes and incantations, cattle-breeding, and agricultural incantations. The various speech genres and rituals surrounding work serve to regulate human behavior, develop labor skills, and provide guidelines for interacting with the environment in everyday life. The study materials included published and unpublished texts on the labor rituals of the Altaians. Combining the historical-typological method with the con-textual analysis of ritual texts allowed the specifics of the folklore genres under consideration to be identified. A conclusion is drawn that some genres of labor activity continue to exist in the natural environment and are considered unique phenomena in the modern lifestyle of the Altaians. A feature of hunting and agricultural wishes is their relationship with the animistic cult of nature worship. An important pragmatic component of hunting wishes is expressing a wish in order to obtain what is desired. The essential magical practices of the Southern Altai people include the compulsion to accept a newborn calf in case the uterus refuses to feed it. The Southern Altaians sing incantations to domestic animals, with certain extra-linguistic words-symbols fixed for each animal. The agricultural rituals of the Altaians in the past were associated with grain cultivation since cereals were of paramount importance in their diet.

Keywords: folklore of the Altaians, labor rituals of the Altaians, semantics and pragmatics of the genres of labor rituals of the Altaians, hunting good wishes and incantations, cattle-breeding incantations, labor songs

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